At a major rally in New York City on September 23, 2025, former U.S. Senator, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and Governor of Kansas Sam Brownback declared that after decades of struggle, the people of Iran are now “in the red zone” for victory. Remembering the late Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman as champions of the cause, he urged: “It’s time to push into victory. Push into victory. We’re there.”
Brownback described the Iranian regime as “a terrorist regime, a nuclear weapon-seeking regime, a regime of slavery and shortages” that has brought “nothing but misery for the people of Iran” for 45 years. He stressed that what terrifies the rulers in Tehran most is their own people: “Why is the regime more scared of its own people than of Israel? Because they know the people don’t support the regime.”
Highlighting Maryam Rajavi’s leadership, Brownback called the uprising in Iran “one of the first, if not the first, women-led revolutions in world history,” driven by a new generation. He declared with conviction: “This women-led movement will win. Tyranny is going to lose. It’s against the trajectory of history.” Quoting biblical prophecy, he concluded: “The fortunes of Iran… are going to be restored.”
The full text of Ambassador Sam Brownback’ speech follows:
Thank you.
It is so good to be here with you. Thank you for how much you’ve stood solid, stood strong for years. I’ve been working on this movement and with this movement for decades. I admire your resilience, your strength. You’ve stayed with it. You’ve not given up hope. And now, to use a football term, we’re in the red zone. It’s time to push into victory. Push into victory. We’re there. And I come here remembering my old colleagues, Senator John McCain [and] Senator Joe Lieberman, who were solidly behind this cause and are, from heaven now, saying, “Freedom in Iran! Freedom in Iran!” That’s what they’re saying and that’s what we should be about as well.
I’m impressed. You’ve shown the world what this regime in Iran is about. It’s a terrorist regime. It’s a nuclear weapon-seeking regime. It’s a regime of slavery and of shortages. In Iran, this regime has done nothing for the people of Iran in 45 years. Nothing but misery for the people of Iran. What’s improved in Iran in 45 years? What’s gotten better? It has done nothing but go down in that period of time. It is time to change the regime in Tehran. It’s past time to change that regime in Tehran. No more empty promises by the mullahs and the Ayatollah to the world community. They’ve given empty promises. They’ve tried to beguile the world for years. They haven’t met any of these promises. They’ve been nothing but suffering for the people of Iran. It’s time for this regime to change. For there to be regime change in Tehran.
The #Iran regime cares only about its own survival and not the Iranian people. The dictatorship will end soon and a free Iran that promotes peace and stability will prosper.#2025FreeIranNYRally pic.twitter.com/RQ8usk3c6G
— Sam Brownback (@SamuelBrownback) September 24, 2025
Mrs. Rajavi leads a women’s revolution in Iran. This is one of the first, if not the first, women-led revolution in world history. This is a great thing to see taking place. Move it forward. It’s a youth-led movement. As I see all these young people in front of me here, this is a youth-led movement in Iran for change. They want a free, democratic Iran. That’s what we want. That’s what we’re calling for so that the Iranian people can pursue their own future, their own liberty, and pick their own leaders.
I think it’s been interesting to me that [after the recent difficulties], after the attacks that have taken place—of course, the regime attacked Israel, and then the subsequent bombing of Iran by Israel and the United States—who was the regime most concerned about after that? It was the people of Iran that they turned their guns on. Not on their external enemies, but on the people of Iran. Why is the regime in Tehran—and I’d ask the people in Iran to answer this question—more scared of its own people than of Israel? Because they know the people don’t support the regime. The people don’t support it. They are literally more concerned about the people overthrowing them, the will of the people coming forward, than they are about Israel. Does that tell you something there? It’s time for the people to take over their own country, and this great civilization that is Iran, the Persian civilization, will rise again and will be celebrated around the world.
The truth of the matter is, the regime in Tehran fears the people of Iran. They fear the people. What kind of regime is that? One that hides and attacks its own people, that arrests and kills its own people to maintain power. And then also to force a religion of compulsion on their own people. Mrs. Rajavi is a very religious woman, but she practices her faith out of freedom, not out of compulsion. That’s what religion should be about; it’s about freedom. Freedom of your own heart to pursue the God that you see and that you want. It’s not about the compulsion that they’re forcing. Indeed, in the Quran, there’s no compulsion in religion. This religion of compulsion is wrong. It’s wrong according to the Quran, it’s wrong according to Quranic sources.
The world, along with the people of Iran, need a free Iran and they want a free Iran. The world supports a free Iran. A free Iran. That is, except for a few select dictators around the world who want a dictatorship in Iran. The Chinese dictatorship, the Russian dictatorship, wants a dictatorship in Iran because they can’t stand the will of the people. We want the will of the people. Iran doesn’t belong in this axis of evil that seeks to take over the world for autocrats and dictators. [The Iranian people] deserve to be among the free peoples of the world. And in the end, and soon, freedom will win. Freedom will win. In the end, freedom will win. This women-led movement will win. Tyranny will lose. Tyranny is going to lose. It will lose. It’s against the trajectory of history. This great civilization that is Iran will rise in splendor again. This ancient, beautiful, productive, great civilization will rise again. And it’ll be great.
I want to end on this note. I’ve got a friend of mine, he’s a biblical scholar, and he was sending me a prophecy about Iran in the Bible, and it’s a beautiful one. It’s in Jeremiah, and he writes in here, thus says the Lord of Hosts, “Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam, Iran, the finest weapons of their strength, and I will bring upon Iran the four winds from the four corners of heaven.”
The Iranian people have been scattered throughout the world. They’ve been scattered. “I will scatter them towards all those winds and there will be no nation to which the outcast of Iran will not go. I will cause Iran to be shattered before their enemies and before those who seek their lives. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them. Then I will set my throne of judgment in Iran, and I will destroy from there the kings and princes,” says the Lord. But, and listen to this, this is where we are right now. This point.
Simay Azadi’s exclusive interview with @SamuelBrownback at the #2025FreeIranNYRally.
“The MEK was the first to reveal that the Iranian regime was seeking nuclear weapons… If they hadn’t disclosed this information, the regime would have had nuclear weapons by now.” pic.twitter.com/TW63ToOVnt— SIMAY AZADI TV (@en_simayazadi) September 23, 2025
“But, in the last days… I will reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Iran.” Thus says the Lord. We decree and declare that today, the fortunes of Iran, once these mullahs get kicked out of office, are going to be restored. This is going to be a powerful, beautiful nation that will reach around the world in what it gives to the world, in what it helps with the world. Not in terrorism, but in help and in support, and in education, and in civilization, and all the good things that humanity is about. All the good things that the civilization of Iran is about. That’s what you’re going to do when the rulers, when the Ayatollah, get kicked out of office. You’re going to restore that and grant that to the world, and it’s going to be beautiful. Next year in Tehran. Let’s meet there.
God bless you all.